Rising transport costs and pricey alcohol have earned Singapore the title of the world’s most expensive city, according to a new survey.

The Economist Intelligence Unit’s “The Worldwide Cost of Living” survey also found that Tokyo, Japan’s notoriously spendy capital, has fallen to sixth place from top spot in its ranking from last year.

Published every March to the public, the study tracks the prices of a basket of goods and services, such food, transport, utilities, alcohol, tobacco, private schools and domestic help as they were in September of the previous year. It then compares them across 131 cities around the world to form an index. The baseline of the index is New York, which has a score of 100. The survey doesn’t take into account the price of real estate or income taxes, but it does factor in consumption taxes such as sales tax and levies on alcohol and tobacco.

While some question its utility, the EIU says its survey is intended for human resources managers, who use the findings to calculate how to compensate its managers and executives as they move from one city to another across the globe.

Singapore, which topped the rankings, earned a score of 130, meaning the cost of living there is 30% higher than in New York, which ranked 26th. The Southeast Asian city-state moved up five spots from last year’s survey.

Persistent inflation, especially with regard to car ownership, was one major factor pushing Singapore to the top of the ranking, said Edward Bell, a Hong Kong-based economist at the EIU. Transport costs represent 20% of the overall basket of goods measured in the survey.

Alcohol was another factor propelling Singapore to the top, with a bottle of table wine there costing roughly $25, almost twice as much as it would cost in Tokyo (around $12.40).

Paris, with a score of 129, was ranked the world’s second most-expensive city, while Oslo (128), Zurich (125) and Sydney (120) ranked third through fifth.

Tokyo had a score of 118, as did Caracas, Geneva and Melbourne. Copenhagen, the last city in the top 10, scored 117.

“You’re seeing the impact of the new policies in Japan and their effect on the yen,” said Mr. Bell. “Tokyo was so consistent in being in the top 3, but to see it fall quite a bit is changing perceptions.” He added that “it’s feeling much easier on the wallet to spend time there,” though the city is still “not exactly cheap.”

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‘Tokyo was so consistent in being in the top 3, but to see it fall quite a bit is changing perceptions,’ economist Edward Bell said.

According to the survey, other expensive cities in Asia-Pacific included Hong Kong (No. 13, with 113), Osaka (No. 14, with 112) and Seoul (No. 17, with 108).

Chinese cities are moving up in the rankings, a reflection of higher wages, rising inflation and the appreciation of the yuan, Mr. Bell said. Shanghai rose nine spots to rank No. 21 overall. Its score of 101 means it’s now 1% more expensive than New York.

Shenzhen (No. 32, with a score of 96), Dalian (No. 42, with 92) and Beijing (No. 47, with 88) were the other top-ranking Chinese cities.

At the other end of the scale, the cheapest places to live continue to lie in South Asia. The survey concluded that the three least-expensive cities in the world are Mumbai (No. 131, with a score of 39), Karachi (No. 130, with 40) and New Delhi (No. 129, with 43).

U mean London doesnt feature in the list... I doubt this study already

5:14 pm April 7, 2014

Random wrote:

Another useless chart - how expensive a bottle of wine far from defines how expensive it is to live in a city. A 50% tax rate combined with a £3600 public transport expense bill per year + ridiculous costs for any non-public service (health, schools) easily makes a £200K London salary < £125K Singapore. I just lost a bit of faith in the economist

10:23 am March 14, 2014

Confused wrote:

The title of this article is very misleading. For the average traveler (as opposed to highly paid executive) these rankings don't make sense whatsoever. For example, London is far more expensive than any of the 7 cities on the list that I've been to. Ps, why should tobacco be used as one of the factors in this survey? I it is 'dying' and disgusting bad habit.